🔱 Welcome Back (And Welcome Aboard) 🔱 

Whether you're a returning reader or just scanned our QR code at one of our happy hours—welcome to the Rady Venture Finance Club newsletter! We're stoked to have you here.

We're a UCSD Rady student-led club building a vibrant community around venture capital,and startup finance. From hands-on events and pitch competitions to trend analysis and industry insights, we’re all about bridging classroom theory with real-world investing. This newsletter brings you the latest from the SoCal venture ecosystem, club updates, and resources to help you grow as an investor, operator, or founder.

Let’s get into it. 🚀

Introducing Justin Bengis

Fueling The Club’s Financial Future

Justin is a healthcare recruiter with a proven track record in scaling revenue—from $7M to $15M—by staffing IT professionals at hospitals nationwide. As an MBA candidate focused on investment banking and corporate finance, he now oversees the club’s finances, ensuring we have the resources to power events, workshops, and growth.

Southern California VC Highlights

🚀 CTGT Raises $7.2M to Revolutionize Enterprise AI Compute 🚀
Startup CTGT has announced a $7.2M seed round led by Google’s Gradient Ventures, with support from General Catalyst, Y Combinator, and prominent angels like Paul Graham and François Chollet. Faced with skyrocketing costs and inefficiencies in training large AI models, CTGT has developed a groundbreaking AI stack that bypasses traditional deep learning bottlenecks—delivering up to 500× faster training with lower energy use and enhanced accuracy.

(Read The Article Here)

🚀 Eli Lilly Dives into AI‑Designed Oligos with $1 B Creyon Bio Deal

Eli Lilly has inked a major agreement with Creyon Bio, paying $13 million upfront and offering $1 billion+ in milestone payments to develop AI‑designed oligonucleotide therapies using Creyon’s cutting-edge “AI‑Powered Oligo Engineering Engine”

(Read The Article Here)

🚀 Clearspeed Secures $60M Series D in San Diego

San Diego-based Clearspeed, a leader in voice-based risk assessment tech, announced a $60 million Series D round—bringing its total funding to $110 million. The round was led by Align Private Capital and saw participation from IronGate Capital Advisors, Bravo Victor Venture Capital, and KBW Ventures, with Gen. David Petraeus joining as an investor.

(Read The Article Here)

🔦 Internship Spotlights: What Our Members Are Up To

Summer may be quiet on campus, but Rady students are making moves in the field. Here’s what some of our Venture Finance Club members are working on this summer:

💼 Yiying Michelle Pang – Global Commercial Pipeline Analytics Intern, Merck

This summer, Yiying is working at Merck’s New Jersey HQ on the HIV pipeline analytics team. Her role focuses on market strategy and forecasting for future therapies, blending her life sciences background with commercial insight in a global pharma setting.

📚 Federico Oldoni – VC Training Fellow, The Venture Institute

Federico is spending the summer in a competitive training program through The Venture Institute, where he’s deepening his expertise in venture capital. The program combines two months of rigorous coursework with hands-on experience—preparing him for strategic roles in VC and startup investing.

Upcoming Events

🐋 StartBlue Ocean Enterprise Accelerator Application Now Open!

🌊 The StartBlue Ocean Enterprise Accelerator is a fast-paced, four-month dive into launching and scaling cutting-edge ocean intelligence startups across the U.S.—because building the future of the blue economy shouldn’t be dry. 🐠🚀

📆 Application Deadline: July 31, 2025

(Register Here)

Resources & Opportunities

• Connect Foundation’s Funding News: Stay informed about the latest capital raises by tech and life science companies in San Diego (Read Here)

• Check Out The Latest on HomeLab: Keep up to date on California’s top biotech accelerator and disruptor (Read Here)

👆️ JOIN THE VENTURE FINANCE CLUB! 👆️ 

Scan the QR code to sign up - exclusively for UC San Diego graduate students

Contact Us

📧 email: [email protected]

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/89756320